Attachment 3 / Anhang 3
Project lead: Roland Mainz
2004/06/14
"Xprint" is an advanced printing system which enables X11 applications to use devices like printers, FAX or create documents in formats like PostScript, PDF, PCL, etc.
X PRINT service overview
The X Print Service enables X rendering to nondisplay devices such as printers and fax machines. For CDEnext, support for PCL and Postscript printers will be developed, and the architecture remains extensible to allow support for other non-display devices.
A companion book, The X Print Service Design Specification, serves as the blueprint document for the X Print Service, and addresses architecture, design opportunities and decisions, and other aspects of the X Print Service.
The X Print Service from CDEnext is an architectural-level solution and sample implementation which allows X imaging to non-display devices such as printers. It is called the X “Print” Service because the primarily application of the technology will be towards printing, but the technology will in fact be applicable to a range of non-display devices. To date, print rendering technologies have evolved separately from display rendering technologies. The thrust of the X Print Service is to converge the evolution of these print and display technologies.
For example, today’s X environment provides a number of APIs and technologies for rendering to a display, including:
By retaining and supplementing these (and many more) standard APIs with one small print-specific API:
The X Print Service will allow an existing X application to render against a printer in addition to traditional display devices (note: the CDEnext sample implementation will not initially support all the X APIs).
Source: http://xprint.mozdev.org/